


They Will Burn

by Skyepilot



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, Serialized, attempting itsallconnected thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-31
Updated: 2014-06-01
Packaged: 2018-01-27 17:00:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1717979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skyepilot/pseuds/Skyepilot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is my attempt to kind of write a fic in episodic format.  So, it will be broken up when I think the commercial breaks would hit.  </p><p>We'll see if I get all the way through without having Skoulson consummate their attraction.  They will definitely give eyes and flirt as they always do, but I'm momentarily distracted by the possibilities of Season 2 and my knowledge of Marvel history.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Man Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Teaser

"What's a Man-Thing, anyway?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Coulson said, continuing through the swamp with his gun in one hand and his flashlight in the other.

"Is it Giant-Sized?" asked May sardonically.

Coulson turned and gave her a deadly warning look, while Skye bit her lower lip.

"Biochemist Theodore Sallis," Coulson said to them both. "He was on staff at Killian's shop, AIM, way back when," Coulson continued.

"Aldrich Killian," Skye said. "Read the very public SHIELD file. Developed the Extremis that CENTIPEDE based their super soldier cocktail on."

Skye saw something slither by her boot. Jogged closer to Coulson's light source.

"Things went sour between Killian and Sallis," May added. "Sallis tried to flee with the drug he was developing, his car was rigged to explode. Ended up in the swamp. When he came out..."

They stopped hearing a loud noise over to their right. They turned, saw an alligator sink into the water and swim away.

"He wasn't a man," Coulson finished.

"Cool," Skye said. "And when he's around angry people he oozes acid?" she asked, grossed out.

"That's how the file reads."

"And I thought Mike Peterson had it bad," she sighed.

Coulson scanned the ground in front of them methodically with his light.

Skye came up beside him, whispering. "I just realized, this guy spews acid when he senses anger."

"Yeah," Coulson agreed.

"And you brought May."

"Heard that," May called flatly from behind them.

"See? Already angry," Skye said.

"May has it under control," Coulson said, smirking.

"Tell me why we're doing this again?" Skye asked.

"Because I owe a man a favor," Coulson replied.

They saw a light in the distance, the warm glow from the inside out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Giant Sized Man Thing is classic Marvel humor. Sorry if you're not a comic nerd.
> 
> Killian, Extremis and AIM were all in Iron Man 3.


	2. The Cabin in the Swamp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second commercial break :)

"How do you want to handle this?" asked May after searching the perimeter around the cabin.

They could see in the windows, but the cabin appeared to be empty.

Coulson shrugged. "Maybe we should just knock?" he said.

May gave him a hard stare.

"Can I help you?"

They spun around to see the solemn blonde woman standing near them.

"Barbara?" Coulson said, squinting at her, surprised. "Barbara Morse?"

May shared a similar expression. 

The momentary look of shock passed the woman's face.

"Follow me," the woman said, heading towards the cabin's front door.

****

"I've heard of this," said Skye. "A reality nexus, right?"

Coulson turned from his seat on the couch and half-smiled over at her, surprised.

"What? My last name *should* be Mulder," she said. A beat. "You never listened to even one of my Rising Tide broadcasts, did you?"

Coulson shrugged apologetically, turned back to Barbara, sitting next to the fireplace.

"Sallis will be drawn back to this swamp," she said, deadly serious. "Over and over again. And nothing will be able to stop him."

"Biological imperative?" May asked. "Back to where he began?"

"No," Barbara replied, looking troubled. "This place...it attracts...things."

"What do you mean?" said Coulson.

"Witchcraft," Barbara said. "For one."

May rolled her eyes.

"Oh, I forgot the official policy is that we're all into aliens but the supernatural? Off limits," said Barbara sarcastically.

Coulson was staring at her. "What else?" he said, serious.

Skye watched a look cross May's face.

"I'm not sure," she paused. "Werewolf?" she said with a wince. There was a long silence.

"They don't even believe in telekinesis," Skye blurted out. "It's so lame."

Barbara smirked.

"I'm sure," Skye said standing, "There is a 'scientific explanation' for all of it," she said using parenthetical hands. "But, let's just use the shorthand," she continued, nodding, "So we can all get to the point real quick."

They all just stared at her in silence.

"Ted was my colleague," the blonde woman began. "I was undercover at AIM, attempting to gather intel for SHIELD on their Extremis project."

"We need to find him," May interrupted. "He's in danger."

Barbara smirked. "I heard about the Fridge breakout."

"Is that what you're here for, Bobby?" Coulson asked. "To protect him?"

Barbara leaned forward in her chair. "Are you kidding?!"

"HYDRA is hunting him," said May. "They think his DNA is some kind of genetic key."

Barbara just laughed. "Then those HYDRA idiots did the world a huge favor," she said, shaking her head.

"What do you mean?" asked Skye.

"If they get near him," she said. "They *will* burn."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Barbara Morse is "Bobby" aka Mockingbird in the Marvel U.


	3. Traitors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On the trail of HYDRA hunting Man-Thing.

Raina didn't roll her eyes. It was beneath her. 

Nothing really touched her enough for her to roll her eyes. 

Sometimes, she thought, it might be nice to feel so out of control.

But, what she did know was that she could be very, just so VERY, frustrated. 

And this was one of those times.

It wasn't that Ward didn't have his uses. They were in a safehouse in Florida, after all.

It was just that he was so numbingly single-minded. 

And she just abhorred a person without vision.

Even though Mike Peterson's DNA was lacking, he had shared her vision; even if, sadly, they had to part ways over creative differences.

The worst of it, though, was although Ward's caveman impulses were easy to direct, he appeared to be imprinting on her like some kind of sad little baby bird. 

Poor, poor little Ward.

"Our mission?" asked Ward.

"We need Theodore Sallis," she said plainly. "We need what he has inside."

"Because, this will do what again?" he asked, frustrated.

"It will unlock Skye," she answered soothingly.

"Do you think the only thing I care about is Skye?" Ward asked her, sucking in a deep breath.

"Why? Do you care about me?"

She blinked up at him, slowly. Hopefully this would quiet him down.

Ward scanned her face like he was looking for something.

"I-I think..."

No, you don't think.

"Grant," said Raina, touching his hand. "I need you to come up with a strategy," she said, lowly. "You need to be in control of this, so I can do that," she said, turning over to the makeshift CENTIPEDE lab in the nearby room.

"Can you?" she asked with her eyes. "Be in control?"

"Of course," he said. 

His whole face had changed. 

Raina's eyes flickered. What *was* this?

Curiosity piqued.

"Who are you?" she said, repeating something she had heard Garrett say to him.

"Grant Ward, Agent of SHIELD," he replied, smirking.

 

****

 

"Sir," Skye said. "I'd like to go back into town."

She had pulled Coulson aside while Bobby and May chatted away in the cabin.

"What's bothering you?" 

He could read her face.

"This area is a dead zone," she said, pointing at her backpack. "I can't get any data here. I'm useless."

The corner of Coulson's mouth tugged upward. 

"And she's not telling us something," Skye said.

Coulson nodded. "I know."

"What's she doing out here?"

"She sidestepped that question earlier," he said.

"Sallis sounds pretty scary," said Skye. "We might need Simmons for this."

"By the time Simmons gets here, it may be too late," Coulson said.

"I thought you wanted to be the Welcome Wagon?" he asked, cocky.

Skye tilted her head at him, frowned. "Hard to be welcoming with your face melted off," she blinked back at him.

He put his hand on her arm, a comforting gesture. It earned him a smile.

The beeping noise startled both of them.

Bobby moved quickly to push a panel on the nearby dining table. It flipped over, revealing an elaborate communications system hidden within. 

A red dot was moving across the topography on the screen.

"That's him," Bobby said, looking over at them in turn.

"He just popped up?" May asked. "Where did he come from?"

"Don't know," Bobby answered, crossing her arms.

"Let's move," said Coulson.

Skye stared at the communications station, frowned. Something about it...

 

****

"How are you able to track him?" Coulson asked Bobby.

Skye walked beside Coulson, snapped another tall piece of grass.

"As long as no one sets him off," Bobby replied, "The trackers are easy to place from a distance," she said, gripping the crossbow in her hand.

"Every once in awhile, someone gets the wacky idea in their head to do something bad in this swamp, and then I have to put another one on him."

"The acid dissolves it," said Skye, giving Coulson a look. 

"You're not going to try to contain him, are you?" asked Bobby, looking over at Coulson.

"Don't really have the resources for that," said Coulson. "Our objective is to take out HYDRA."

"Good," said Bobby, satisfied.

May glanced over at Skye.

Skye felt relieved to know that May was bothered, too.

They had been walking in the dark for what felt like ages, and everything around them looked the same.

"Guess you know this swamp like the back of your hand," said Skye, friendly-nervous.

"I've got a handle on it," she said.

Skye snapped another piece of grass, turned to look behind them.

"So tell me more about these HYDRA cretins," said Bobby.

"Have you missed *all* the news everywhere?" asked Skye.

"Been kind of isolated out here," Bobby replied.

"SHIELD was heavily infiltrated by HYDRA," Coulson said. "The agency has fallen apart . It's considered a terrorist organization."

"Ouch. Guess that is news," said Bobby. "Okay, what kind of weapons are we looking at?"

"Guys juiced up on a variant of Extremis," said Coulson.

"And one of our own. Turned traitor," May said, sharply.

"Sounds personal," Bobby said, staring back at her.

"Could be HYDRA weapons as well," May added. 

"Tesseract-powered," added Skye.

"What did you say?" Bobby asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Alien tech," said Coulson. "That, we *will* take back with us."

"I see," she said, nodding.

She glanced over at trees ahead, made their way towards them.

They passed under the canopy and Skye felt a change in the ground. She turned to Coulson, her eyes growing wide as a net sprung up around them, slamming them together and lifting them into the trees.

May dived clear and sprung up out of a roll as Bobby grabbed her by the neck and lifted her off the ground.

"What are you doing?!" yelled Skye, watching May struggle for air. "Stop!"

May kicked and fought but went limp as the other woman released her to the ground, pulled some bindings loose from her jacket and began tying May up.

"Don't worry, she's still alive," said Bobby.

"Who are you? Or a better question, what are you?" Coulson asked calmly.

"You seem like nice guys, but I'm better off handling this on my own."

She walked away up ahead, left them there.

Hanging.


	4. Diversions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Held out as long as I could. Really, the opportunity just presented itself.

"Skye," he said uncomfortably, from bearing most of her weight. "I need you to reach behind me, grab my gun from my waistband."

"Maybe if you just lift your arms," she suggested.

"They're in the net and I can't get your weight off me."

"Hey!" she warned.

Coulson just sighed.

"Okay, okay," she said, took a deep breath and lifted herself off him, tried her best to balance as the net shifted with their weight.

"Apologies in advance, sir."

Couslon turned his head sideways as she reached up and over him to get her arms down his back.

"Skye..." he groaned, as her chest pressed against the side of his face. "Breathing, kind of important..."

"Almost there," she said, straining. "Got it!"

She plopped herself down back in his lap, gun in her hand, pleased with herself. "Now..."

"HOLeee Toledo," yelled Coulson simultaneously.

"What?"

Skye gave a little cry of surprise when they heard the bang of gunfire and the net crashed to the ground, along with them.

May stood over them, lowered the gun.

"Are you two about finished?"

Coulson helped Skye up.

"Thanks," he said to May, glad that it was dark. For a lot of reasons.

"A sleeper," May started. "Pretending to be one of ours."

"That console, back in the cabin," Skye said. "I think it's Chitauri. It looked similar to the metal we picked up from CENTIPEDE."

"Not good," said Coulson, thinking.

"Skye," he said finally. "I want you to go back to the cabin. Lock yourself in, crack that console, find out whatever you can. Look for weapons or anything else we can use."

"I left a trail for us," she said. "To get back."

"I know," he smiled.

Skye nodded. "What about you two?" she asked, looking at May as Coulson handed her his gun and picked up the flashlights off the ground, switching one on.

"May and I will go after the sleeper. And HYDRA."

He took out one of the two way phones. "I don't know if this will work out here," he said. "But, it's worth a shot."

"Be careful," Skye said to them both.

 

****

Skye inspected the cabin perimeter and went inside. The console was still exposed. Good. The whatever it was hadn't circled back, then.

She entered and turned the lock, began going through the cupboards and shelves, pulling down anything that looked alien and tossed it on the couch.

Then she grabbed her backpack and sat down at the console, ran her hands over it.

"Okay, talk to me, baby."

 

****

Coulson gave May a signal and they advanced.

The sleeper was good, but not good enough to completely cover its tracks.

They heard a scream from up ahead and saw a clearing near the water.

Moonlight was shining down and there were the glowing red eyes of four CENTIPEDE soldiers, as well as two other figures in the shadows.

"Back off!" they heard one of them command.

"Ward," said Coulson, looking at May.

The figures all began to back away from a large mass in the water. Coulson had thought it was a misshapen tree, but it began moving towards the group.

"Sallis," Coulson whispered.

Suddenly, it turned towards Coulson and May, a pair of large, red eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Ok. Officially creepified," said May.

They all started running in their direction.

Coulson and May shared a look and retreated to the shadows.

 

****

Skye had pulled out her flash drive and had plugged it into the console. 

"To steal our stuff, you've got to be able to use our stuff," she said, hitting a button to start the download.

A noise from outside made her spin towards the front door. She whipped the gun out of her waistband, walked slowly towards the door.

Suddenly, a body came crashing through the glass of the two front windows and landed in the center of the floor in front of her.

It was Ward.

Skye pointed the gun right at him as he groaned and got up off the floor, raising his hands.

"Just give me a reason," she said.

"Missed you, too," he said, smirking.

Skye's jaw twitched.

He turned and looked over his shoulder.

"However," he said, looking back towards Skye, "I think we have bigger problems."

Skye looked at the window and covered her mouth as the huge creature began to burn the outer walls of the cabin, pressing its way in. 

The two red saucer-like eyes stared at her.

 

****

The sleeper turned and attacked the CENTIPEDE soldiers nearest her, easily matching their brute force.

Coulson and May came out of the shadows and joined the fray.

May went after the sleeper, making sure this time that the woman wasn't going to be able to get her hands on her. May was a lot more compact and faster, making the sleeper have to work really hard.

Coulson grabbed one of the HYDRA weapons from the fallen CENTIPEDE soldier and headed for the other two men tailing Ward and the Man-Thing.

"You should know, Bobby never used a crossbow," May said, her foot making contact with the sleeper's face.

It knocked the woman back and she looked for a moment like she got fuzzy.

"What the hell?" asked May. 

The woman wiped the purplish blood from her mouth and stared back at May.

May's eyes got wide when she turned into Coulson.

"Wouldn't hit your boss, now would you?" she taunted.


	5. Finale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finale

Coulson shot one of the CENTIPEDE soldiers with the HYDRA weapon and ducked as the other swung at him. 

Ward had once again, gotten away. And Coulson didn't like the path of his trajectory.

"Skye," he caught himself muttering.

He pulled out the two way phone and tried it, but no signal.

The truth was, Ward was Sallis' perfect target. And Sallis would probably be the death of him.

That moment of distraction cost Coulson and the soldier made contact, sending Coulson sprawling.

He looked up and saw the weapon a few feet away.

The soldier raised his foot to stomp Coulson's head in and he rolled past it and reached for the HYDRA weapon, came up short.

He turned back to the man and saw him go down.

"Got your back," said May, standing above him with the HYDRA weapon. 

She tossed the crossbow to him. 

"Let's go."

They headed straight for the cabin.

 

****

Skye was in a tough spot. Ward was behind her and the Man-Thing was in front of her.

Skye thought about what the sleeper had told her. What Coulson had said. She closed her eyes and began thinking of all the things she knew about Ted Sallis. About his wife. How she had betrayed him.

About how he looked after the other AIM employees, moral compass still intact. 

About him trying to do the right thing, in the end. 

She thought about Mike Peterson and how his real appearance had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with his outside.

She opened her eyes and saw it standing right across from her. Hulking, huge. Dripping acid on the carpet.

"Mr. Sallis?" she said. "Ted?"

"I am so sorry for what has happened to you. How alone you must feel. I just want the universe to make it right." 

She took a deep breath, reached out and touched him. It didn't burn.

For a moment, she felt the large red eyes looked like they understood.

They slowly shifted to Ward behind her. The creature began moving again.

"You need to go," Skye said, putting her body between them. "Hide. I'll take care of him," she said to the Man-Thing. 

"Promise."

Ward was pressed against the far wall as much as was humanly possible, watching.

The creature made a noise that sounded like a "humph" made of a mixture of gravel and trees stirring the wind. It turned and began to retreat from the cabin.

Skye spun on Ward and raised the gun again. She moved towards the console.

"You're not going to shoot me," he said. "That's not a Nite Nite gun."

"I don't have to kill you," she said rigidly, "Just slow you down."

"Skye," he said. "I came here to get that monster. For you."

"So who's pulling your strings now?" she asked, ignoring his implications. "Raina?"

A hurt expression crossed Ward's face. Like he had to swallow something.

"Go ahead," he said darkly. Something came over his face. "Pull the trigger. It's what you really want."

Skye stepped backwards.

"DO IT!!" he yelled at her.

Ward yelled in pain as an arrow went through his shoulder and pinned him to the wall.

Skye turned and saw Coulson with a crossbow in hand, May standing behind him in the gaping hole made by the Man-Thing.

Coulson walked over to Ward.

"I'm sure that hurts, but, not as much as it did for me to pull the trigger," he added sarcastically.

Skye just shook her head at him.

"May," Coulson said, looking back to her, "Let's..."

May was gone.

Coulson exchanged a look with Skye.

"He'll keep," Coulson said, glancing at Ward.

They headed out the hole in the wall.

 

***

They found May as they doubled back, holding her other arm and looking very pissed. 

She was injured and she didn't want to talk about it.

Coulson told her the sleeper got away, with one of the HYDRA weapons.

He moved to help her and she elbowed him away.

"That thing," she said. "It could change its shape."

Meanwhile, in the cabin, Ward had broken off the end of the arrow, and slid his shoulder down the shaft, gritting his teeth against the pain. 

He pressed his hand to the wound, pulled it back to see it covered in blood.

It could all burn, he thought. The whole world. He began looking through the cabinets.

And in the swamp, Coulson and May were having a stare-down.

"All's not lost," Skye said, pulling out the flash drive from her pocket. "Grabbed this before I left."

"*And* Coulson shot Ward with an arrow."

"These things could be everywhere," May said, ignoring the positivity display. "How do I know it's not one of you?"

And out on the nearest road, there was a beautiful young hitchiker, thumb out waiting for a passing car. A HYDRA weapon slung over her shoulder. A slight limp.

But right here, Skye and Coulson were looking back and forth at each other. The implications of what May was suggesting forcing them to make a move.

"You sigh every time I show up for morning lessons, presumably, because they used to be *your* mornings, and now they have *me*," Skye said.

"Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas Hearns?" Coulson said. "You're still mad. But, I put it all on Sugar Ray, and so you had to take that totally obnoxious Level 1 out to lunch for a week. What was his name?"

"Finsky," May said, shaking her head. "And you promised you'd never bring that up."

"Oops," said Coulson.

***

They all headed back to the cabin. Just to be sure.

But they knew from a distance; they could see the light from the fire.

Standing in front of it burning, they looked back through the hole in the wall and saw an arrow with the end broken off and a word written on the wall in blood.

It said: monster.

Coulson looked over at Skye, her arms wrapped around herself.

"Let's go home."


	6. The Doctor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That little teaser at the end.

"Okay, Koenig, sheesh..." Skye yelled out into the hall from Coulson's Director of SHIELD office back at the Playground.

She rolled her eyes. "He has the worst timing," she said. "And do you really think it was a good idea to tell him about the Chitauri thing?"

"Yes," Coulson said, working from his holodesk. He was completing the report from their field mission.

"He wants any excuse to get people into that chair..." Skye said.

Coulson looked up at her, met her eyes. "You have to admit. It's serious," he said. "Almost as serious as HYDRA."

"Absolutely," said Skye, walking towards him, leaning on the desk, watching him work.

"You remember when I first met you? When you put me in that interrogation room, alone, with Ward?" she asked.

"Yes," he replied cautiously, putting aside his report.

She looked over at him very sweetly and leaned forward, batting her eyes.

"And I thought," she said, "The whole time, that there actually *was* a truth serum?" she said, shrugging her shoulders as she leaned in further against the desk.

There they were again, front and center. Coulson's eyes looked away from her eyes for just a moment, but it was all that was needed.

"Payback." Skye said, smugly.

Coulson's mouth was hanging open. Did she really...? That whole thing in the net...

His phone rang.

Oh, thank God.

"Need to get this," he said quickly, spinning around in his chair, answering.

Skye just rolled her eyes and walked out.

"Strange," he said. "Yes, yes, I'm here."

"No, just fine."

"Oh, that? Just finished working out." Coulson lied, turning cautiously back around. 

She was gone. He let a breath out.

"You're welcome," he said.

"And we look forward to working with you, Doctor."


End file.
